Browsing: SURVIVOR BENEFITS

Q. My husband was retired from the U.S. Forest Service 12 years ago and receives a pension. His first wife died a year after he retired, and the pension plan was still deducting the survivorship amount from his pension. We married in 2007, and he realized that I am not eligible for the survivorship because he did not change the spouse information in the time allowed. They are going to refund the survivorship deduction over the last 11 years, but is there anything else we can do to become eligible? What if we divorce and then remarry?

Q. I have two employees that do not want to leave their spouses a survivor annuity, without the spouse signing anything. One is CSRS and the other is FERS. The FERS employee has been separated for two years now and does not want to leave him anything, since she is not legally separated. But if she was legally separated, does she have to leave him anything?

Q. Is the cost of the spousal benefit I elect on the day I retire (approximately 10 percent of my pension) set in stone? Or do I have to pay more each year because the value of my pension is going up due to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)? (Is it 10 percent of retirement pay on Day 1 and that amount is paid forever, or 10 percent of my pension as it goes up due to COLA? Is the value of my spousal benefit based on 55 percent of the amount of my high-3 pay at retirement or is it 55 percent of my pension at…

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